Author Comments

I'm going to change the description to something KINDER:

Listen. shhh, just listen.

Please go drop 99 copper coins on this little game of ours, so we can make bigger/better games. It may sound like I'm begging, but I'm actually telling you, and you don't even have a choice. I'm that god damn good.

Rated 4 / 5 stars2012-04-01 17:22:33

Rated 4 / 5 stars2012-01-22 16:36:43

[additional to the marketing perspective]

I have to largely agree with GungaD's (earlier) comment which criticised the cartoon based on its projected successes as part of a marketing strategy. All the points were well made. But I have to differ on some points from a consumer perspective.

However, I disagree that this should be seen as (mostly) a failure. This cartoon exposed me, a member of the target audience, to an app that I can assure you I otherwise would not have ever heard of at this early time in its career (as in, if corporations are people, apps have careers). Granted, that was its intended purpose and nothing special, but unlike 99% of the game advertisements I see -- scratch that, 99% of ALL advertisements I see for any product -- I was actually swayed to purchase the app based entirely on the advertisement alone.

What I see in this ad short is fairly promising. As a consumer, all I wish were that it offered more information about the actual game. By not seeing information about how the game works and what I'll be expected to do, presented in a technical manner, my expectation is that the game isn't worth describing or (worse) if it were described to customers they would lose interest. So saying, of course the major driving force behind my purchase was cuteness factor and the promise of radical color palettes (since I felt so disparaged for the game).

What I would like to see would be a few promptly released follow-ups or lengthier versions of the drama between Blackbird and Mahony, which (after the dramatic introduction) focus on relating the game mechanics. Here's how I would storyboard it in a few simple steps: (using original footage) lead up to the point where blackbird says "we're gonna have to sacrifice you, Mahony"; interject with the "announcer" voice from the second ad with the monologue extended to include a few terse descriptions of expected goals or obstacles, over animated scenes depicting the fantasy world the game inhabits, and also include some footage of the actual game being played near the end of the interjection; return to the original ad just at the point where blackbird says "your sacrifice won't be in vain!", and continue to the end.

As for the second ad, it reminded me of something I'd see in between episodes of "Ren and Stimpy". It was meant to be absurd, but I was also put off a bit by the insult. I couldn't place that sort of affront into any kind of cultural context, until I heard the little "rap" verse at the end. Since I'm obviously referred to as a mother-fuck by the time the ad is over, what occurs to me is that the ad was meant to cater to anti-social crowds, as in, people who aren't properly socialized but are acculturated to the point of culture-saturation, and instead of relating to fellow humans relate to media sources.

Which, having put it that way, also leads me to think that perhaps the people making the ad don't put much stock in the game's ability to sell itself, and maybe they were venting some angst about that. That's what I'm led to believe by being called a stupid mother-fuck in support of my purchase of it. Or, maybe the advertisers were hoping to capture that really introspective, reclusive gamer that hates his or herself but loves their games. They make great testers and the game did just come out.

However, whatever the reason for the ads, because the game looked cute, I bought it anyways. So, I'm also here to relate a little bit about the game itself.

Rescue mode: You tilt the screen to move around. You tap to jump. This is useful only while attempting to jump up on top of individual vehicles to collect a rescue-ee to come along (they snake along and act as hit points). The action freezes between these one-platform modes and now you're jumping and running in the space of one screen to avoid cats that resemble the worms from the movie Beetlejuice (nothing at all like the worms from Tremors). It's hectic, and, so far, it feels kind of unrewarding.

Survival mode: The promised cinematic is this video. You tap to shoot cats. Your laser has a recharge rate. You call a chopper to be rescued.